Back to Her Sluttish Ways...w/poll

Though not my first choice, HRC's ability to keep her shit together during this primary season has really impressed me. I saw Maureen Dowd's headline about HRC crying her way into the white house and clicked off the NYT. She presents HRC as someone who only cares about running the WH, as if there is something SO unseemly about ambition. As if a lack of ambition ever got anyone but the older Gandhi anywhere (e was very ambitious when young, as was Mandela, MLK, etc...) There is so much sexism it's making me ill.

Case in point: HRC's famous "meltdown in the NH debate." Wow--look at the debate. What meltdown? Oh, she showed some emotion.  Crazy woman...

And it's making me think I need to take a good second look at Hillary Clinton, as a leader, as a stoic, as a fighter, and as a liberal.

HRC was originally my third choice.  I like O's style more and think he could get a lot done. (My gut loves Edwards, but the fiery rhetoric is not going to accomplish anything, I now feel.) And I do think HRC is more hawkish (I don't like this).  That said, she's 8000 miles to the dove compared to the current group in the WH. And I remember the last Democratic outsiders we sent to the wh. Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. They got a LOT done, oh yeah, even if they were decent men--more then decent men.

Experience DOES count.  Insider connections DO count.  Politics is in many respects the art of trading favors. And why do we pretend that angels flew Obama and Edwards to their current positions in life?

Beholden to the pharma companies? C'mon--which of the top 3 hasn't taken money from big pharma? HRC gets more because she's perceived to be more influential, not because she's inherently more evil than Obama. They've both taken hundreds of thousands--and his health plan is slightly less inclusive than hers is.

I find myself rethinking things this morning.

Because our hearts can be in the right place, but we have to think strategically. I hear people on this saying they will never vote for HRC. Oh lord...we need DEM judges in the Supreme Court. We need someone who actually cares about families (and if you don't think HRC does, you're a moron, plain and simple) and works for legislation that can accomplish change, in healthcare and minimum wage (something she has fought for). And electability? If McCain is the nominee, the contrast between a man with 4 years in the Senate and a woman with much more experience (and if you don't think her years with Bill count as experience, think about Eleanor Roosevelt, who never held public office but was her husband's eyes and ears and most trusted advisor--not much HRC wasn't in on).

Yes, I am thinking this morning.

I'm not wild about her campaign's tactics, but I'm not wild about Obama's wife telling people a vote for Edwards is wasted because of his choice about financing. I'm not wild about Edwards' gangup of her on TV, which looked silly to me. I'm not wild when a remark one of  Hilary's campaign workers makes is headlined on this site as coming from Hillary herself, but that when Obama tours with a homophobic minister we look the other way. Grown-up politicians link themselves to others to get elected (Obama's lobbyist campaign chairman in NH--oh, but not a FEDERAL lobbyist..makes all the difference...no one's beholden to anyone there...).

And mostly I realize that much of my persepctive on her is driven by what the MSM chooses to focus on, and that it precludes all her work in the past. She is a worker. I think Obama is too, but Steinem's money quote was, would a woman with less than 1 term in the Senate ever dream of putting herself forward to govern the most powerful nation on earth? She'd be mocked.

Gee, I am vacillating.  Is it because I'm a woman and too dumb/flakey to make a choice and stick to it? Is it because I saw HRC's eyes well up and thought, Oh my God, they made her cry, and that's mean and so I'll vote for her? Or SHE cries. I CRY. Ronald Reagan cried. Bush cried. It must mean we're all secret imperialistic morons and THAT's why I'll vote for her.

I wrote a diary entitled "I am a Barack/Edwards slut." I think I've kicked Edwards out of bed, and lo and behold, found that I'm bisexual with respect to my political musings.

Will you respect me in the morning? I don't have time to care. I'm too busy rethinking things...